A teacher and former regional director candidate in the Cariboo has been suspended for a condescending Facebook comment directed at her students.
According to a consent resolution agreement from the B.C. Commissioner for Teacher Regulation, Shannon Rerie is a secondary school teacher for the Cariboo-Chilcotin School District. Her Twitter account says she teaches Grades 8-10 at Cariboo-Chilcotin Virtual Secondary School.
A local newspaper published a story on Facebook on Jan. 23, 2020 about four students who had excelled at a team sporting event. Two of the students currently had Rerie as a teacher, while the two others had her as a teacher in previous years.
Rerie commented under the article: “Wish they’d been nicer students in my class… I’d be way more impressed with this.” She included thinking and shoulder shrug emojis.
The post started circulating more broadly and one of the student’s parents complained that it may negatively impact their child’s scholarship application.
Rerie was written up by school administrators and suspended for two days without pay, served on Feb. 12 and March 4, 2020.
The consent resolution agreement says a school administrator had previously told Rerie to keep a lid on her Facebook activity “several times” over the past decade.
Rerie ran unsuccessfully for election at the Cariboo Regional District in local Area F in 2018.
The full decision can be read online.
